So, I am a terrible person for not writing at all lately. :( May the gods of fanfiction strike me down in my sleep. Sorry sorry. To partially make up for it before my next chapter that would physically exhaust me to write coming later, I have this chapter. Please enjoy! I will try to not be such a slacker!

Chapter 7

Kyoya POV

I saw her smirking from the corner she controlled the club's money from. She enjoyed taunting me, so I knew I wouldn't get anything out of her until club hours were over. I sighed, inciting excitement from the girls on the couch in front of me. Her impatience seemed to be rubbing off on me, unfortunately. I had hoped to avoid that.

Tamaki had made a little nest on my left, claiming that part of the couch as his. We had become closer as friends, and soon the girls that frequented the club designated us the kings of the Host Club. Tamaki was quite excited about our newfound success, saying it couldn't have happened without me, but I knew it was all him. He treated everyone like royalty, knowing they deserved it. Yet, I could tell as the weeks went by that something had changed in his head. It was a good thing, most likely a love-related thing. I just hoped it wouldn't backfire.

Host Club ended after a couple of hours, the twins, Hani and Mori, and Tamaki leaving to go do whatever they did after 4:30. Haruhi started cleaning up, and I went to her in three strides. I caught her hand in mine and wound her hair around my fingers. "Hello," she said, not bothering to return to her previous state of activity.

"Hi," I murmured, my eyes on her eyes that I loved staring into. "Did you have anything to say to me earlier?"

Haruhi laughed. "Only that you'd probably be more comfortable doing my job. I think I'd make an exceptional host."

"Should we test that sometime?" I asked. "Switching places for a day might interest both genders, generating more profit for us."

Haruhi's face fell. "You need to stop being in work mode all the time. There are little shadows under your eyes again," she said, running a finger gently over them. "I don't want you to get sick anymore."

I leaned into her touch. My glasses were a bit smudged from her fingers, but I for once did not care. I pulled her hand down to lightly kiss her palm. "You aren't my work mode, Haruhi. You never have been," I whispered into her skin.

We sat together for a little while, not talking or kissing, just the smallest part of us touching. It was so comforting, being near her. I would have stayed there forever. "Kyoya?" she asked. "I probably should clean now."

I broke away, hoping my disappointment wasn't plain on my face. "Yeah, I'll leave you to that." There was a slightly awkward pause. "Goodbye. See you tomorrow, Haruhi."

I walked out the door, making sure to grab my backpack and laptop. She didn't say anything else to me; it made me have irrational thoughts about running back to her. I stopped walking and restarted several times, trying to leave the building. Eventually, I couldn't handle it anymore and headed back to Music Room Three.

Not four meters from the door, someone came up behind me and covered my mouth. I tried to turn around and face my attacker, but they had me in too good of a hold. That pissed me off! No one should have been able to subdue an Otori! I fought much harder, just to see who was behind me. "Kuze?!" I shouted, but his hand muffled the sound.

"Yeah bastard! I know what kind of scum exists at this school now, Otori. I don't think anyone would mind if you disappeared for a while. Nope, I don't think so." He quickly jerked me through a door, shoving me against some cleaning supplies. I stood up, but the door had already shut. I banged my hands on it as Kuze and his two minions, laughing their heads off, left me there. It was definitely a new low for me.

I yelled, "Can someone help me in here?" hoping that a teacher or Haruhi would hear me and get me out. Nobody needed to know why it was so imperative. Running footsteps echoed toward me, abruptly cut short.

"Kyoya? Is that you?" Thank god, it was Haruhi.

"Yes it's me. I'm locked in this closet. If you can get in and help me, I would be eternally grateful." I hated the wavering in my voice.

"You're not okay, are you?" I heard a thump as her forehead leaned against the door.

"I am exceptionally not okay right now. Please get me out."

Haruhi fiddled with the doorknob, eventually turning it and opening the door, I inwardly cheered, because I would never outwardly. I hadn't been so happy to see a face in my entire life. Wrapping my arms around her, I held her impossibly close. "Thank you for coming for me."

"I want you far away from Kuze and his friends from now on," Haruhi said angrily. "I mean it, rich boy."

"Who's the mom of the Host Club now?" I breathed, not meaning it at all.

Neither of us noticed the door slowly closing behind her. "Let's get out of here, Kyo." She grabbed my hand and made to leave, and the door clicked shut, throwing us into darkness broken only by the tiny window's light in the corner of the closet.

"Oh my god. It locked, didn't it?"

"Probably," she answered. I let go of her and looked around, but we couldn't see really anything. My hands reached out, but all I could feel were walls. Walls that seemed to get closer and closer to each other, with me being their obstacle. I felt for Haruhi, and when I found her, I hugged her tightly.

"Don't let go for a while. You might help this." Memories popped up of those horrible days seven years ago: the dark, the enclosed space, the shouts interspersed with complete silence, the loneliness. Before I knew it, I was shaking violently, shivering as if from the cold.

"Kyo, you should sit down." I did so. "Put your head between your knees and take deep breaths," Haruhi said calmly, as if she saw things like this every day.

"How do you know this stuff?" I asked, ever the skeptic.

"I was a nurse's aid in middle school. I know claustrophobia when I see it, Kyoya," she said, making it seem like the most natural thing in the world.

"Fear of small spaces. It's such a little thing, you know," I said after a lot of deep breaths and a couple of head pats. So embarrassing.

"Fear isn't little, Kyo. You can't put big things like that into small boxes for you to analyze and interpret, you just have to stare at it head on and face it. Because fear is one of those really big feelings, you deal with it a bit at a time. As it's bad to make mountains out of molehills, it is equally bad to do what you manage to do: make molehills out of mountains," Haruhi told me, with not a single hitch or stutter in her voice.

I looked up to where I thought her voice was coming from. "I wonder if I've broken my habit when it comes to us," I muttered bitterly.

Haruhi didn't seem to hear me, but carefully knelt on my left, moving a few brooms. "You need to accept that you can't control everything. Sometimes you just have to throw yourself into things without any thought and try not to get swept away."

Against my better judgment, I wrapped my arms around her waist, making us crash awkwardly together. Softly, I kissed her as she slid a hand into my hair. Exhaustion took me over suddenly, exhaustion from fear and lack of sleep and Haruhi's scent, which lulled me away from the closet and into the world of dreams.

Haruhi POV

Kyo stayed asleep for about four hours, holding me like a lifeline. I'd removed his glasses while he slept so he wouldn't accidentally crush them. "Here we are again," I whispered. "You're asleep, and I'm awake, and we're together." He didn't stir, but I didn't expect him to.

I had heard what he'd said about us. Kyo wasn't making mountains out of molehills, I did love him. I just would never admit it. Love was such a volatile thing that if he didn't feel the same way, I would be entirely crushed, and my feelings would turn on me. Neither of us deserved that, so I let it lie. The twins would probably accuse me of being a selfish bitch, but I was alright with that as long as I could stay next to him.

At 8 something, Kyo woke up. His eyes had lost their frightened, trapped gaze, and instead looked at me with warm, happy eyes. I resisted the urge to plant a tiny kiss on his nose. "Hello. Am I still dreaming?"

"No, Kyoya. We're still in a closet," I answered. "Are you feeling better with the claustrophobia?" I asked professionally.

He stayed quiet for a moment. "Do you know why I have that fear?" I shook my head. "When I was ten years old, men came to the house while my brothers and father were gone. My sister was in a far part of the house and didn't hear them take me. The ransom was tens of millions of yen; while waiting for it, I was locked in a tiny, windowless cell.

"I was there for hours and hours, Haruhi. I was left with my own scared thoughts. More than the fear the walls were going to close in was the fear no one was going to come for me.

"When my father finally paid the ransom, I had been in there for three days. There's my claustrophobia and my aversion to my parents in one tragic story."

Kyo fell silent, but there was a shine on his eyes that caused me to reach down and lightly kiss him on the forehead. "You have the boys and Tamaki and I. We'll never leave you like that."

His lips quirked up in a small smile. "Why does Tamaki not count as one of the boys?"

"He's your best friend. He deserves his own category." I held him close until he'd completely calmed down again, stroking his head of black hair. Suddenly, I heard a rumbling sound. I prayed it was a truck on the street. "Did the forecast say something about a storm tonight?" I asked Kyo quietly.

"Yes, why?" A crash of thunder rang through the small space. I yelped, burying my head in his shoulder. My body tensed as the thunder sounded again. Tears ran down my face, but I tried so hard to hold them in. "Darling, are you afraid of thunder?" he asked, running a hand over my back.

"This is my exceptionally not okay," I replied, repeating his previous statement. "Thunder's always frightened me, but because Dad has his job late at night, I rode them out by myself, so that made it worse."

"Well, that will never happen again. I'll be here whenever you need me." He sighed. "Even if you don't need me."

Oh dear mother in heaven, can you see me? I love him, and he gets the crazy idea that I don't need him. Why did I fall for an absolute baka?

I looked up at his face. Barely noticing the wetness on his shirt, I wondered how stupid I would have to be to think I could live without needing him. I kissed Kyo on the very corner of his mouth. In response, he kissed me full on, sweetly, as if it was our first kiss. "I'll always need you," I said.

Kyoya positioned me so I was sitting between his knees. He pulled me tight to him and kissed my neck with barely a brush of his lips. His hands lightly traced my neck, and then moved to cover my ears. He rested his head on top of mine and I felt him sigh contentedly. The storm lasted much longer than I did: I fell asleep in Kyo's arms after a half hour.

Kyoya POV

I felt her begin to fade as the thunder began to settle down. Haruhi's eyes drooped, and her breathing slowed to a measured pace. As she fell asleep, I worked up something I'd wanted to say to her since the day I first kissed her.

I moved one of my hands from her cute little ears and brought my lips to the skin there. I knew she might not hear me, and I knew she might only like me as a friend, but I had to say it before my heart burst with the effort of keeping it in. "I love you, Haruhi Fujioka. I'll love you no matter how much you hurt me. I will never leave you."

She barely stirred, but smiled tranquilly and mumbled, "Kyo?" My name from her mouth made my head feel fuzzy. This is what love feels like, I thought to myself as my consciousness waned into dreams.

And Kyo admits his feelings. I'll probably not update for a little while, because I have some writer's block for this particular story. Don't worry: I am publishing a oneshot very soon. See you all later!